The Ascension Parish Library is hosting a digital book club! This blog is a place to discuss the book "The Spanish Flu Epidemic and its Influence on History," by Jaime Breitnauer. The e-book can be borrowed through the library's Hoopla subscription. We'll post questions to help you reflect on what you're reading. Please keep all communications respectful and appropriate. The library reserves the right to remove any content it deems inappropriate.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Week Two Questions
Thank you to everyone for participating in book club with us.
Here are our questions for the second part of The Spanish Flu Epidemic.
Question 10: Consider the ways in which soldiers fought the flu differently than civilians. Were you familiar with trench warfare before reading this book? How do you think this style of war affected the spread of the Spanish flu?
Question 11: There are conflicting numbers of reported cases of the Spanish flu. Consider what factors contribute to the accuracy and inaccuracy of those numbers.
Would more accurate reporting of the Spanish flu have changed the outcome?
Question 13: The book details how different countries used different treatments for the Spanish flu. Think about how many of these treatments were useless and even harmful.
Question 14: Were you familiar with how the Spanish flu got its name before reading this book? How does this relate to controlling the narrative of the disease?
I feel like I have been reading the daily newspaper after reading this book. There are so many similarities. The impossible decisions made by governments that led to widespread famine and economic collapse are some of the same questions that we are facing today.
Question 1: What were the far-reaching impacts on neutral countries like Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: How did the Spanish flu impact social issues such as insurance, healthcare, and working conditions?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: What was the Spanish flu’s impact on resources? Consider not just medical resources but also food and other basic needs.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 4: Did the Spanish flu impact Western Europe and the United States differently than Africa and the East? If so, in what ways?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 5: What role did industrialization play in the impact of the Spanish flu?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 6: What role did colonization play on the spread of the Spanish flu?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 7: Were you aware of the connection between Gandhi and the Spanish flu and its impact on India’s national history?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 8: General Eric Von Ludendorff blamed the Spanish flu for Germany’s loss of the war. Do you agree with this statement?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 9: In what ways do you believe the Spanish flu changed the course and outcome of World War I?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 10: Consider the ways in which soldiers fought the flu differently than civilians. Were you familiar with trench warfare before reading this book? How do you think this style of war affected the spread of the Spanish flu?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 11: There are conflicting numbers of reported cases of the Spanish flu. Consider what factors contribute to the accuracy and inaccuracy of those numbers.
ReplyDeleteWould more accurate reporting of the Spanish flu have changed the outcome?
Question 12: Chapter six discusses “civic duty.” What are your thoughts on this topic in relation to the Spanish flu?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 13: The book details how different countries used different treatments for the Spanish flu. Think about how many of these treatments were useless and even harmful.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 14: Were you familiar with how the Spanish flu got its name before reading this book? How does this relate to controlling the narrative of the disease?
ReplyDeleteQuestion 15: Why do you think the Spanish flu has been “lost to history?”
ReplyDeleteQuestion 16: What lessons, as a society, can we learn from the history of the Spanish flu?
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have been reading the daily newspaper after reading this book. There are so many similarities. The impossible decisions made by governments that led to widespread famine and economic collapse are some of the same questions that we are facing today.
ReplyDelete